The next morning at school, Mikyung was happily surprised to see Haknyeon was in her photography class. His eyes widened when he saw her, a grin coming to his face as he ran up to her.
"Oh! I didn't know you were a senior!" he said excitedly.
Mikyung gave him a small smile. "I'm not," she said softly.
Haknyeon frowned at her. "But this class is usually only for seniors."
"It usually is," she agreed. "But if other grades want to join, they have to submit photographs and demonstrate talent in photography, and then the department discusses and if they feel it's right, they let them join. So that's what happened to me."
"So you must be pretty talented," he said, looking impressed. "Do you have the photographs you submit uploaded on your phone or computer? I'd love to see them sometime."
"Um... no, I don't," she lied, not wanting him to see the photographs. They were mostly of the hospital. The photos were dark and sad, kind of like a horror movie concept. The photos she took tended to reflect how she was feeling.
And ever since her mother had received the cancer diagnosis, her life had felt like an irreversible horror movie. A terrible reality with no way out.
The specific place that her brain tumor was in was pretty bad, so bad that the doctors said she wouldn't live for more than a year.
According to that timeline, there were only three months left.
Mikyung shook her head, trying to push those thoughts away for now and focus on school. The professor had started talking.
"You'll be working on a project this semester," the professor was saying. "In pairs, you'll be working together, documenting a story about your life. Your individual life, and then your lives together, either as friends, lovers, or strangers. Quickly choose your partners and come write them over here," the professor said, putting a paper on the desk in the front of the small photography room. "And then you can go outside and use this time to take photos. I expect you to be taking a significant number of pictures every week, and I'll be tracking your progress."
"Wanna be partners?" Haknyeon whispered to her, and she nodded. "Okay, I'll go write our names," he said, giving her a bright smile and heading to the front of the room.
She swallowed, not liking the idea of this project at all.
Photography was already something she used to document her life and her feelings. But she wasn't ready to share that with a stranger, no matter how nice Haknyeon seemed.
She struggled to think of other aspects of her life, but couldn't come up with anything. All she could envision was the hospital.
Her mother had mentioned before that she wanted to meet her friends. The problem was that ever since her mother had received the cancer diagnosis, Mikyung had found herself withdrawing from people.
She glanced at Haknyeon, who was engaged in conversation with one of the other boys in the front of the room, the two of them easily laughing.
He was a boy with an easy laugh, and an easy smile.
Should she just do this project right, and open up to him? Just a little?
"So, where do you want to take photos?"
Mikyung hesitated for a moment, trying to decide. She knew that the hospital was the place that would most accurately document her experiences at the moment, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She'd spent so long building a wall around herself and she wasn't ready to let anyone in.
"You decide," she said. "I'm not sure where I want to take pictures yet."
***
A/N
Posting another chapter so we can get some actual Haknyeon x Mikyung scenes😂
